Honda has finally bitten the bullet and brought to India its first 1.5L diesel engine. At the Honda Amaze press conference event in Chennai, Mr. Jnaneswar Sen, Sr. VP – Marketing & Sales, Honda Cars India spoke to the media where he stressed that Honda makes some phenomenal petrol engines and is firm on their stand that their petrol engines are God’s gift to mankind (our words, not theirs).
We won’t argue. While the 1.5L i-DTEC diesel engine makes sense for the masses, with phenomenal fuel efficiency and driveability, anybody who has had the privilege of driving a VTEC ( not so much the i-VTEC) car from Honda will tell you there’s nothing like a VTEC engine roaring through the revs and nudging its way to the redline propelling a car that weighs almost a ton to oblivion.
It makes absolute sense for Honda to expand its range of diesel vehicles, plonk this diesel mill in the next generation City and Jazz, keep the masses happy, the cars moving out of the showroom, so that a financially healthy Honda Cars India can continue making fantastic petrol cars.
What wouldn’t we give for another Honda that evokes as much emotion as the original City VTEC that scorched Indian roads more than a decade ago.